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February 2024 by Babette C.
This place is better than Goodwill because they're larger so they have more inventory but have space to spread it out. Came here to buy a scrapbook because my mom came back from a cruise and wanted to put her tickets, brochures, maps, pictures, and other pocket litter together and she bought one where you slip things in sleeves and it looked like hell, lol. So I bought the type that has a D ring so you could fill it up with as many pages as you want, along with the pages that are thick and have adhesive on it so things stay in place. Sure, I could have bought a new one at Hobby Lobby or Michael's for $40 bucks plus another $20 for extra pages, but why not buy the same thing for $4 at Value Village. Because one man's trash is another man's treasure, we found a gorgeous, unused scrapbook with D-Rings and it looks so much better than the one my mom paid full price elsewhere. That is the reason to go to thrift stores. Does it suck that they are all for-profit organizations at this point. Sure it does, but it's keeping perfectly good items out of landfills and giving items a second life. I go there for office supplies, DVD's clothes, and sometimes organizers and that is a perfect use for this type of store. Plus I love how they have sanitizing pumps at every cash register that is not just for the employers, but also the customers. Thank you, thank you for that.
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December 2023 by Dee H.
This is customer service in reverse. The Value Village website states that their mission is to "positively impact customers, donors, your community and the environment." Core Values state that they are supposed to: "- Act with ethics and integrity - Put donors and customers first" This is my experience with the employees, at Value Village on Sleater Kinney, who degrade the core values listed on the website. The first employee: I went into Value Village with a friend, and we were excited about our finds. We found what we were looking for and started to collect them to take to the front of the store. I saw an employee go into the back work area. As we were trying to get our cumbersome purchases from the back to the front of the store. The same person I had seen go into the back work area returned, walking past me as I struggled with the chair. I said "Can you help me?" and he kept on walking. Enter employee two: My friend and I managed to get to the jewelry counter hoping that we could get some help ringing up our finds. The employee in that section had an hostile, insolent manner and ignored us until, when asked for help, twice, she pointed and told us to go to self-checkout. She continued to lean against the wall. I then asked if we could get help to the self-checkout because we had already carried our burdens from the back to the front. This employee then stated, belligerently, that, next time, we should leave our big items in the back where someone would help us bring them up as she grudgingly carried one of the items. The employee from the jewelry section then told one of the employees standing around giggling and chatting with another two employees in the self-checkout area to help ring up my purchases. Enter Third Employee: When we asked the cashier if we could get help getting the items out to the vehicle we were dismissed by being told that we could move our vehicle up to the door and load our items one by one. (So much for help from the back, again). Then, the cashier left us so she could continue the previous unprofessional interactions with fellow employees. The employees grouped together watched with obvious amusement. As I left, I told the employees in front of the store that if they did not want to do their job they should let someone else have it, and I was met with "have a good day" and hateful laughter and contempt. Do not shop here. Do not donate here. The employees do not want your business. I have now looked on Yelp and found that this is the general consensus of recent reviews. Is management going to do something about this?
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October 2023 by Danielle Jimenez
Carries the nicest clothes of any thrift store in town. However, their prices are ridiculous. Everything is a minimum of $10-$15. Also, I don’t understand why all the thrift stores took out their fitting rooms so us poor women have to change in the middle of the store with men and everybody else watching. So uncomfortable. Covid is over get the fitting rooms back.
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September 2023 by Julie A.
Horrible scam store. It used to be fun to go there. Now it's ridiculous and most (not all) employees just stand there and do nothing. They seem annoyed to deal with customers when they are forced to. The exchange policy is unethical and you can't try anything on. Did I mention it's all self check out so the employees can do even less than usual. Just stand there and watch you with the sullen look on their faces. I've seen elderly people up there struggling to ring up their own items. The prices are high too. Do yourself a favor and go to Goodwill or other thrift stores in town because this one sucks!
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August 2023 by Desiree A.
I've been thrifting for years and have visited several thrust places in my time. This place has 'some' cool stuff but they are grossly overpriced. I always thought Goodwill was overpriced, but this place is even more expensive. Probably won't go back there.
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August 2023 by Nathan Bradley
The prices keep going up and up to retail and beyond. Chair is $84.99 on Amazon but $139.99 here... you can find deals but they are few and far between
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August 2023 by Billy N.
The 3 stars go to the employees working here, which is a massive store that is surprisingly very organized and clean for its size and amount of items. Not getting 5 stars because there seems to be high turnover and I bet that if the employees were paid $20/hr and given a good benefits package, the public wouldn't have to watch Value Village churning through employees because it wouldn't happen. Many folks coming to this store are locals/regulars and when we watch this incredible turnover happening, we know the problem is you. It looks really, really bad. When you donate something here, the employees (I strongly suspect) are directed to say, "on behalf of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, thank you for your donation." Remember that Value Village in WA state was sued by the attorney general in 2017 for misleading the public; very little of anything goes to charity. So, how about stop doing that, and pay your workers instead?
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August 2023 by Nathan B.
It used to be fun to find deals but the prices keep going up and up this chair is priced $140 but only $80 brand new on Amazon.
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August 2023 by Karen Francis-McWhite
First: as thrifting goes, they are over-priced.Second: no fitting rooms AND no cash return policy (a convenient little fact that I was not told yesterday when I had to rush in at my lunch hour to buy a replacement outfit for work).Third: they only accept returns as an exchange EXCEPT when the exchange item ends up being less than the original item, they WILL give you the difference in cash.In my experience shopping there yesterday, they are dishonest about the details of the return policy. That paired with a refusal to restore changing rooms (that did exist before the pandemic) means they are shady AF and are simply looking to pad their revenue numbers.Buyer beware.
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August 2023 by Crystal Wendy
Over priced on everything there's even trash being sold in there coke bottle that you can purchase in the store right now empty $4 lol like what happened to being affordable used items it doesn't make any sense! I would much rather buy used but it's cheaper buying new at this point than paying $10 for a shirt in store and it being sold used for $15 to $20
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July 2023 by Kathryn Kane
Great selection, great prices. I only gave it 4 stars because they had no dressing rooms. If I can't see if something even fits, I m not buying it. So I guess I'll stick to other items besides clothes.
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July 2023 by Olystacy B.
I used to love donating and finding treasures here but im done. They don't allow you to try on clothes anymore. At all. And their return policy is exchange only within 14 days. Done shopping and donating here.
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June 2023 by Ashley Fisher
Been shopping at this value village for a few years now and every visit I leave with great items, both clothing and household. Unfortunately, the prices have skyrocketed recently. I’ve seen a few clothing items priced higher in this store than they are currently listed brand new by the original retailer. Also no fitting rooms.Not sure if it’s 100% self check out now, but that’s all that seems to be available when I’m in. During my most recent visit, an employee was practically breathing down my neck as I was checking out. I couldn’t even adjust my cart because of where she was standing. Insane check out security for a store whose inventory is literally donated to them.
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June 2023 by Nora Lou Halbert
What a late stage capitalism nightmare. No fitting rooms. No store credit or returns. If you gamble on a pair of overpriced pants and they don't fit, you have to walk around and find comparably priced trash to exchange same day. If you can't find anything that same day you'll have to come back and go through the whole weird routine again. Thrift is dead here. Save your money and time. Go south to Centralia -- bunch of thrift and antique shops with hidden gems. Way better prices, direct to non-profit/community, and store credit. I know ValueVillage be getting robbed by all the junkies hanging around outside, but jacking up prices and policies effectively removes whatever residual insentive there was to risk getting my car broken into from your parking lot in the quest for some used clothes. Can't possibly be good for the bottom line, can it? Wouldn't it make more sense to hire security than lose a whole bunch of customers?
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June 2023 by Donna H.
I recently moved back to Olympia. This Value Village used to be a weekly stop for me. I've donated hundred of dollars worth of household goods over the years. The staff was friendly and welcoming. I had my father with me today. He is a 94 y/o WWII vet. He suddenly urgently needed to use the toilet. When I asked the manager, she initially stated they no longer have public toilets. After explaining the urgency, she said she would make an exception for my dad. She told me to tell the staff in the back exactly that. I went to the back, rang the doorbell and waited...and waited...and waited. I could hear someone back there so I rang again. No response. After looking at my father's panicked expression, I stepped into the back and called out. A make voice impatiently yelled back that he would be there in a minute. Several minutes later, an irritated looking man rudely asked what I wanted. When I attempted to explain that the manager had told me to ask him to let my father use the toilet, he snapped at me and said he couldn't open it. He continued to speak angrily to me as I turned to my dad and said we had to go. I was surprised at how rude he was! I will never go back into or donate to this store again!